Prior to the BBL Supercup in Bamberg of last week, Sport Eagle TV got an interview with Tibor Pleiß, who won two – no, three – consecutive Bundesliga championships and three German Cups with Brose Baskets. Pleiß was drafted at no. 31 overall by the New Jersey Nets and his rights ultimately landed with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With Pleiß set to play for Caja Laboral Baskonia this season, OKC fans already know they have to wait; unfortunately for them, it may be something of a long wait indeed – but at least the 22-year-old has his head on straight vis-à-vis the medium term: “I had the chance to go to the NBA, but on my mind was to go to Spain for a couple of years, three, four, to make the next step, to [become] a better player.”
A tad disappointing for European basketball enthusiasts who have been following Pleiß’ progress since making the Bundesliga with the Köln 99ers back in 2006 it may be, but this most likely represents the best choice for a guy who would likely be buried on the bench of a title contender in what should be his formative years.
See below for Pleiß’ discussing topics such as missing the Olympics, the future of Team Germany, playing for Baskonia and his progress in learning Spanish.
Team Germany ended up winning Beko Supercup 2012 with a 78-74 victory over Pleiß’ future teammate Maciej Lampe and Poland.
Tags: 2010 NBA Draft, Beko BBL, BEKO Supercup, Brose Baskets Bamberg, Caja Laboral Baskonia, Euroleague 2012-13, Köln 99ers, NBA, Oklahoma City Thunder, Team Germany, Tibor Pleiss
[...] NBA turn for Pleiss on ice; may play Spanish ball for four yearsBallinEurope… Laboral Baskonia this season, OKC fans already know they have to wait; unfortunately for them, it may be something of a long wait indeed ? but at least the 22-year-old has his head on straight vis- This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged nba by admin. Bookmark the permalink. [...]
Hmm
“A tad disappointing for European basketball enthusiasts”
What is disappointing for someone who likes European basketball? That the player will remain in Europe? Doesn’t make much sense. It’s as if you said that Luis Scola or Manu Ginobili would return to Europe, but the ‘”European basketball enthusiasts” would prefer them to keep playing in the NBA
[...] Tibor Pleiss talking about his future. [...]
This site is an NBA USA related website. It’s for NBA American fans, not for actual European basketball fans.
This is proven by the fact that every single blog post is full of American NBA only fans trashing everything related to European basketball.
Gabe and mike were wrong YET AGAIN. FIBA denied the request of Mark Cuban and David Stern to make the Olympics under-23, and also denied their request to place the FIBA World Cup under NBA control and ownership.
Also, the FIBA World Cup will officially become FIBA’s world basketball flagship and showcase, with the Olympics officially taking second in importance.
Finally, the court size and 3 point distance will be the same as in the NBA – evidently they felt sorry for Stern and Cuban, so they threw those dogs a little bone.
Hmm I think Pleiss would have had a shot in OKC, but he definitely would have been a backup to Perkins to start with. It would have been nice to see Germany’s next big basketball name soon, but I can’t argue with the reasoning behind stayin gin Europe for a while longer.